Gilded Limited Edition 2018 National Playing Card Deck

National Playing Card Collection Day celebrates the collection of one of the oldest forms of portable art (circa 1200s). Playing cards are literal galleries of art and inspiration, showing and communicating the intentions of an artist to the public while also archiving the cultural values of their time. Collecting these art pieces allows us to be curators of our own galleries to display different check points in time. These collections can be seen as extensions of the collector, and this day is a time to celebrate and share their collections to the public. The official date celebrated is October 17 and marks the start of a weeklong celebration worldwide to share our collections with others.

Design Inspiration:

The design started with the initial sketches that led me to playing around with the classic Vase or Face illusion that deals with foreground and background perception. From there, the design theme got further entrenched into the idea of playing with perspective on a level that we have not yet seen before in the card world. I wanted to create something TRULY special that others haven't seen before and ended up creating the 2018 NPCCD series, featuring the world's first light filter deck that literally changes design based on the box that you receive.

Theme:

The theme of the series is about PERSPECTIVE and what we see. Since the holiday is about sharing with the world how we see cards as art, I wanted to create a piece that displayed that sentiment. The result is a truly remarkable deck that literally changes your perspective based on the filter each person sees, noting that we can see the same design differently based on these filters.

Innovative Tuck:

The box features gold and silver intaglio engraving onto astral pearl stock that exudes a feeling of luxury. Each box contains 2 large die-cut windows featuring either a red or blue "worldview" that shows the deck inside. The color of this window is what determines the design of your deck. The tuck flap is a side loading custom die that is shaped like the famous ribbon face. It is part of the innovative "kinetic die-cut window" I designed, which allows the die-cut to change shape through layering. When open, the window is larger to show more information on the cards. When closed, it completes the illusion of a pawn chess piece between the faces.

The windows work by reacting to different light waves. Because red and blue light waves run at different frequencies, if you are able to isolate those light waves (e.g., through a filter), you can quite literally control what people are seeing. By doing so, you can create some extremely dramatic effects in meaning that can only be revealed when you have both filters.

The goal of this box was to create a mini "reality" inside it. When the cards are outside the box, they look different from when they are inside the box. And the reality of your cards is based on the color window through which you are seeing them. So different people who donate to get these boxes will find that they may see a different design than their friends are seeing, which I thought was extremely fun.

Thematic Relationship:

The theme is perspective, and the relationship of these "dueling" perspectives of chess master vs. chess master continues throughout as well. The face of the box shows a face and a pawn. The back design features the hands that play the pieces on the board. And when put side by side depending on placement order, the boxes create either a Queen chess piece or a full-bodied person.

Back Design:

Features a mobius strip that reveals a sphere of 2 heads. Inside the head of one person is the exterior head of another represented by different colors. Small suit symbols hide in them and are revealed to show what they are thinking about specific changes, based on which "reality box" you use. There is a crown above each head and a line of chess pieces that head the top and bottom of the card. They are interspliced with one another to mimic columns.

Ace:

Is meant to blend the lines where the box stops, and the cards begin. It shows through the front facing window. Each bulb of the club holds a different chess piece. In total it holds 6 different chess pieces, but will only show specific ones based on which reality it is in. The red filter boxes will show the King while the blue filter boxes feature the Queen.